Inverter tig welders, good,bad or just crap?

[nat p]

Hay all,

I'm looking at buying a welder, really want to do alloy stuff so a mig 170-190 will do,

But new tech is changing and ive read the last post in tis section, but that was 4 yeas ago! so I thought id ask you cats and see if these inverter tig/arcs are any good?? All feed back would be appraicated. Even an offer to have a drive if your live around Kew? I'll bring a slab of your choice!



Cheers Nat

[PeterM]

If you can TIG weld then they are a good thing as they give you a decent duty cycle. The fact that you can arc with them as well is just a bonus.

[Homestar]

These inverter style welders have advanced a bit since first hitting the market. They are small and light, but don't let that fool you or put you off. These units use a switch mode power supply, which means they convert the AC from your power point into DC, then invert it back to AC at a MUCH higher frequency. Transformer efficiency improves greatly at higher frequencies, so the transformer can be a lot smaller than a conventional unit.

When these were first released there were issues with them - certainly in out hire fleet, but they have got better in the last couple of years. The electronics that run them vary a bit in quality, so a better known brand would be the go.

The electronics can be expensive to repair if it fails, so get something with a decent warranty, but if you buy a decent version, then you shouldn't have too many issues I wouldn't think.

Best of all, they take up less room in your garage and are easy to move to where you need it.

Here is a pretty good write up of inverter welders and what all the knobs do - http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tig-welder-settings.html

Cheers - Gav.

[BilboBoggles]

Nice timely thread! Ive read that known brands include Kemmpi and Everlast. What other commonly found brands in Australia are half decent?

I have a MIG welder already - that I love - IT's a MigoMag, but I'm interested in playing with TIG, just to see how it works. I was thinking of one of those 500-600 dollar ebay jobbies just to try out - any one know of a reasonable one to look for?

[flagg]

I purchased a chinese TIG a while ago, I think it was rated at 190A at a reasonable duty cycle. It really is the luck of the draw.. many people like them but this one was not very good. Unstable arc, poor quality components and eventually it just stopped working ("eventually" wasn't a very long time.. and it never did any hard work or long duty.)

Worst of all, it just wasn't an enjoyable machine to use. The unstable arc meant I could never get a constant pool and was always chasing my tail.

Ended up biting the bullet and got a BOC Smootharc Elite TIG 230 AC/DC. It is simply a joy to use. The HF start is powerful and instant, the arc is rock solid and it comes with a really REALLY nice gun that doesn't get hot even with a 180amps through it on long runs, and it has a gas nossel that literally halfs gas use.

Not really DIY budget though, unless you are keen. There are other cheaper ones in the Smootharc range that will still get you local warranty and a person to talk to who knows about welding. (helpful if something 'isn't quite right' like an unstable arc).

[nat p]

I used have a 175 Boc mig, vey very very happy with it. It did a couple of roll cages and and couple of full on body restos, but I was thinking this time around not spending that much cash. About 500$.

I have a mig in mind but just don't know what I would use more, hmmmm I think I need both!!

I can borrow a mates mig, that why I thought go this inverter. Has anyone got one? Or used one?


Cheers Nat

[nat p]

Was your tig, an inverter job???

[flagg]

All the BOC ones are inverters I think

[nat p]

Sorry I meant was your tig one of these cheap ones on eBay?

[flagg]

The first one was an inverter type bossweld, which was available on ebay at the time, but I got it from a bricks and mortar store.

The ebay ones tend to go in waves depending on what is coming out of the factories at the time :)